PLDT, Inc. said it will increase its capital expenditure (capex) for 2020 as it continues expanding its network infrastructure, particularly the fifth-generation (5G) network that will be launched “early next year.”

Asked if the 2020’s capex will be higher than this year’s P78.4 billion, PLDT Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters on Saturday: “Yes… I was looking that way.”

However, Mr. Pangilinan declined to give the exact amount, since it has yet to be approved by the PLDT board. “Sa Tuesday pa i-approve ‘yun,” he said.

Mr. Pangilinan attended the signing ceremony between PLDT-Smart Communications, Inc. and Araneta Group, Inc. for the deployment of fiber-powered WiFi and 5G technology in the Araneta City, which covers the Gateway Mall, Smart Araneta Coliseum, New Frontier Theater, and Araneta Center bus terminal in Quezon City.

Asked which business segments the PLDT will be focusing on next year, Mr. Pangilinan said: “Both [fixed and wireless networks] actually.”

“There’s a big push for both… More investments in 4G and 5G [networks]. There will be more stations to be built in the wireless side. For the fixed, mainly the investments will be in the transport [network] of PLDT, the backbone, and completion of the fibering of the cell sites… So it’s really a big investment. Again, we are really, really making the infrastructure world-class,” he added.

Mr. Pangilinan also said that a significant amount of the capex will be used to fund PLDT’s continuing rollout of its 5G technology, although the product “may not be immediately” profitable.

“It will be a big, big part of capex for next year. It will be a substantial amount, not very substantial, but it is,” he said.

Mr. Pangilinan said PLDT’s 5G network “will be commercially launched early next year.”

The telco giant had allocated a record P78.4 billion in capex for this year, 34% higher than 2018’s figure, as it ramps up its network expansion.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Arjay L. Balinbin

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